


The Devils Magic

by Doomkitty25



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Boys go questing, M/M, Salem, Time Travel, post monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-05-07 06:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19203598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doomkitty25/pseuds/Doomkitty25
Summary: Penny, Eliot, and Quentin are selected to follow time traveling witches back to Salem. They have to try and dodge the locals, dress up, and do their best not to strangle each other as they attempt to save the world. Eliot has a secret, Quentin is having none of it, and Penny can't catch a break, they'll have to get it together if they have any hope at all of thwarting the meddling kids.





	1. Around and Around

Penny frowned from his place by the window, the sunlight illuminating him doing nothing to soften the sharp edges of his anger. “You’re not fucking dressing me up as an Indian either, could you be anymore offensive you racist fucking assholes.” His stare bore holes in Josh and Quentin as they both looked around with guilty looks on their faces.

“Well you’re not fucking white and we need to blend in.” Kady snapped wishing, not for the first time, that Penny40 was standing behind her and she didn’t have to watch 23 making eyes at Julia. She was mostly okay with it, but some days she just needed a fucking drink and a break.

“Why can’t we replace Eliot with Julia?” Penny snapped back, regretting it almost the minute he said it. Kady’s look got even more pinched, and Penny might be a dick but he really had no desire to actually hurt the alternate love of his life. He winced and softened his look. She seemed to understand and just turned her back to him. He was damned lucky her temper had mellowed somewhat, and she was better able to focus her anger on what was important and brush off what wasn’t these days.

Julia rolled her eyes at Penny’s bullshit as Josh slumped further into his chair, and Julia patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. 

“That really will get you burned at the stake motherfucker.” Margo stated. “Like jesus fuck, 2 white dudes in disguise as missionaries, which by the way only Quentin can really pull off, and an Indian translator even if you’re the wrong kind of Indian.. That’s where we’re at. Alice deemed it acceptable. Dragging Julia around with you is asking for a bonfire. Unless you want to magic up a good fucking idea, this is what we’ve got.” Margo was standing beside Eliot where he was slumped on the couch.

“Fuck this is beyond fucked up.” Quentin sighed. Alice was sitting on one end of the couch, reading from a library book on pilgrims and the witch trials, Eliot was on the other end resting, and Quentin sat crouched on the floor between them, books laid out around him, thinking it was such a fucking metaphor for his life. Eliot was still recovering from the monster, he was well enough for a little time travel, but Quentin wasn’t entirely happy with how quiet he’d been the past few weeks. Margo was hovering and Alice was ignoring the fuck out of everything that wasn’t the mission. The break in at the Library had shaken her, and Quentin almost thought it was more than just the Hedges stealing a time travel spell.

Eliot hummed, making a bit of noise so he didn’t startle anyone with his voice. He was still very aware of the lasting effects of the Monster on the group surrounding him. “Yeah, well I think you should make me a disgraced lord, who’s been banished to the America’s. There’s no way in hell I can play a priest, or what the fuck ever. I’ve clearly mellowed in my old age, but there’s nothing fucking holy about me, and I’m not entirely confident I can wear that particular mask convincingly.”

Everyone in the room looked at each other, and Alice spoke up though she didn’t look up. “It would perhaps draw less attention if Eliot were a deposed lord banished to the America’s with a family priest or missionary, and they picked up Penny from an agency in England. Two priests would be less conspicuous, but strangers are, by definition, for this time conspicuous, so making you a believable trio would be a better scenario.”

“So you listen to fucking Eliot, but what I say is bullshit.”

Alice shrugged. “He makes sense, you’re just bitching.” She put one of her books on the coffee table and stood up, smoothing her dress down she walked to the chair where Julia and Josh were sitting, turned to face the room at large. “Alright we have the exact time and day they went back, but their location is still somewhat vague. We know the Salem witch trials are well underway, and we know they’re in the area, but we have no idea what their endgame is.” 

Julia interjected, “Also we know that the Salem trials were not magicians, they were in every sense of the word fake news. The witch burning's in Europe were absolutely magicians, but Salem was hysteria, and has no actual magical significance.”

Alice nodded, “Which is why their choice is so peculiar.”

Kady sighed. “Is this something the Library could be covering up?”

Alice gave Kady an appraising look. “While I don’t think everything about the Library is a conspiracy, it is questionable that they chose the year of the burnings and Salem in particular to travel back to. It could be that there is an artifact they’re trying to uncover, or it could be something the Library is hiding, but right now we just don’t know.”

“I still think dressing me up like a fucking native is bullshit.”

Eliot stood up from the couch, his imposing presence capturing the attention of the room, just like the actual king he had been. Deposed lord indeed. “Oh for fucks sake Penny, they were fucking with you. You’ll be dressed like a white man’s servant.” 

Penny made a frustrated noise, “Like that’s any fucking better you piece of actual shit.”

Eliot rolled his eyes. “Yeah and if they learn I’ve had dicks in my mouth I’ll be on the pyre right beside the beautiful ladies of the town. This is not a fucking joyride jackass. So suck it the fuck up.”

“Or you know pussy up, because right now you’re acting like a shit stain. Girls can’t go. Josh is still magically bound to Fillory, and you three fucks are the only other dicks in the group that we trust with something this big. God fucking knows why?” Margo said sufferingly as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared holes in Penny's forehead.

Eliot no longer needed his cane, but he’d taken to carrying it around anyway, and he shifted it up so he was holding it in the middle instead of the head, as he stalked toward the stairs. When he reached the first step, he turned to the room, not surprised to find everyone watching him. “Go get your shit together, and let’s get the goddamn spell cast. Margo and I have a costume closet upstairs, it should have some workable items.” He waved his hand at Alice and asked, “Alice if you’ll verify the historical accuracy please, the rest of you get started.” He snapped out and turned to walk up the stairs. Commands given and fully expecting the others to follow. Eliot from before may have lingered on the stairs watching his minions follow his commands, but new Eliot simply took the gravitas of the command with him as he exited the room.

Quentin sighed, wondering just what the hell was going on with his best friend.

* * *

 

They'd decided to cast the spell in the dining room, clearing the floor and closing the blinds and pulling curtains to make the room as dark as they could naturally.  Quentin finished drawing the chalk circle and double checking the components of the spell with Kady’s help. It had taken them well over an hour to get the actual drawing on the floor of the apartment, and between Julia and Josh they had all of the actual physical ingredients in position. Penny was still sulking, but he’d been gracious enough to keep his mouth shut, so Quentin had been observing Eliot. Eliot _and_ Alice, and for once Alice was the one making actual fucking sense.

Alice was fine, if a little shaken, but she was clinging to Kady’s side like a limpet. Quentin wanted to be annoyed, but he couldn’t find it in him to care all that much. Their relationship was building, and the part of him that wasn't an asshole thought it was kind of beautiful. Before the robbery at the Library, they’d sat down and come to terms. Again. Because it hadn’t been working. Quentin was wrapped up in Eliot’s recovery and Fillory, and Alice was wrapped up in the Library and the Hedge revolution with Kady. They barely saw one another, and when they did it wasn’t like coming home, it was like performing. Or that’s what Alice had said. Quentin thought it was more like hiding. He’d come to terms with a lot of things in the last few months, and one of the things he’d realized is that he had used Alice to hide or shield him from his pain. So when she’d asked to break it off, he’d agreed and told her she deserved better, she said they both did. 

Then there was Eliot. Not making any fucking sense. Quentin struggled to find the words for what was going on with him, and it wasn’t all related to the Monster possession. Eliot wasn't depressed, like Quentin personally thought he should be, and he wasn't angry like maybe he would have been in the past. There was an air of detachment that Eliot had never ever been able to effectively take on, but he was managing it these days, and Quentin realized it was because he was physically detaching himself. Eliot was very careful not to touch anyone, ever, for any reason. He had fundamentally changed how he interacted with others, and Quentin was finding it hard to navigate the space around Eliot. It pissed him off just the slightest bit that Margo didn’t appear to be struggling at all, and had in fact slipped right back into Eliot’s space minus the hand holding and hugging. Quentin just couldn’t, and he didn’t know why. Eliot talked to him, Eliot acknowledged him, but it was almost like he kept a proximity spell around himself that Quentin was no longer allowed to breach.

Margo marched into the room and started pushing everyone into their places. Eliot at the center of the circle pentacle, Quentin to his left and Penny to his right. Josh was the North, Julia was the south, Kady was the East and Alice was the west. “Alright bitches, remember find the hedges, bring them back, and don’t change anything or do anything significant while you’re stuck in hell. I’ll count the beats, follow my cast.” This particular spell required a director or a focal point of sorts that stood outside the four points and outside the middle. 

Quentin had laughed when they read the spell because it reminded him of Stargate where Daniel had tried to explain interdimensional travel to a bunch of military people, it was kind of like that. Margo was their focus, or point of origin, or their gate code home, however you wanted to look at it. He put his hands in position at her direction and began to cast the spell. Eliot’s arms brushing his as he also began the hand movements that would send them back into the past.

Eliot kept it simple for their costumes. Both of them had long hair, but Eliot had Julia pull Quentin’s back with a tie. Eliot wore a black jacket and pants, with some sort of shirt that stuck out at the neck and arms with fluffy ruffles. Quentin had no idea. It wasn’t really that far off from what he normally wore, but the jacket was longer and the fabric was black wool. Quentin on the other hand felt like he was stuffed into a suit, and he kind of hated it. Penny was lucky, he wore a peasant shirt with pants. They didn’t look precisely as period as Quentin had feared they would, he had dreaded being dressed up like a pilgrim, but Eliot had kept their clothes subtle. 

Alice breathed around the words of her part of the spell, and couldn't help the blanket feeling of unease she'd been dealing with since this had all started. The spell surprisingly, didn’t require a lot of power. That was one of the things that struck Alice as suspicious when they had revealed what the hedges had stolen. The position of the stars, the weather, and a 1000 other factors had to be right for the spell to work. A brief window in time on earth, once every 188 years, the spell could effectively work. It was easy how it fell in place, and it was easy to cast. Alice absolutely did not trust it, and she knew Kady felt the same way. Eliot had expressed his distrust as well while they were gathering the costumes. This was all remarkably easy, and frankly nothing for them was ever this fucking easy. From one breath to the next as the spell hit its crescendo, their boys disappeared. She looked to the others and they all held their breaths hoping they were doing the right thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet a boy and get their bearings.

The bright light of a country sun beat down on Eliot’s face, and he shuddered in disgust. Fillory had allowed him some measure of comfort in both accepting his past and coming to terms with how it made him who he was, but Fillory had opium air, and that made a whole host of shit more bearable in the bright afternoon sun. The smell of earth and grass being one of them. Eliot tried to focus on his companions. Penny was looking around with his trademark sullen observance, and Quentin was per usual wide eyed and curious.

He heard the horses before he could actually see them, the magic had delivered them into the past on the curve of a dirt road that appeared to be well traveled. Trees were on their right, and on their left were fields that stretched for miles. He grabbed Quentin’s collar and nudged Penny with his cane, and proceeded to drag them off the road and into the trees before they were spotted.

Eliot had no idea if it was a forest or if they were just in some outcropping of trees, but it should provide enough cover for them to hide from whomever was coming around the bend. Quentin had finally caught on and twisted himself out of Eliot’s grip with a frown and brushed his jacket back into place. “Penny can you do what you need to do in the trees?” Eliot asked ignoring Quentin’s sullen look. Penny needed to pinpoint their location and see if he could find any of the hedges with traveler  spells that Alice and Julia had given them.

Penny shrugged. “Yeah, should be able to get it done.” He made his way further into the trees, looking for a spot where the sunlight didn’t break through.

Eliot pulled Quentin back to face the road, he wanted to figure out who was on the road and what they could learn about the current situation in the town, but a tiny meep stopped both of them in their tracks. They were not alone in the woods.

Eliot whirled around, his tall frame something he used to his advantage as he loomed over the person hiding in the underbrush. The kid couldn’t have been more than 15, he was curled up around himself in the fetal position on the ground. Less than 100 feet from the road, close enough to hear and somewhat see out, but well hidden from anyone passing by. Interesting thought Eliot. Strategic. Curious. Of course Quentin wouldn’t hold himself back. Before Eliot could begin an interrogation of the youth, Quentin was already on his knees beside the kid asking him if he was okay. Eliot rolled his eyes, but recognized that Quentin was just going to be Quentin. It was no surprise really that he gently pulled the kid into a sitting position, treating him like a baby lamb, which made Eliot want to slap him upside his stupid dumb head.

“What’s your name?” Quentin asked softly crouched down beside the boy.

The boy’s trembling was very real, but Eliot had seen method acting once or twice in his life, he was still skeptical. “Simon, I am called Simon.” He brushed the woods from his clothes, simple shirt and trousers with brown boots. Wealthy he wasn’t, but neither was he the bottom of the barrel. Long sand colored hair, with a pair of beautiful blue eyes, the kid was all innocence and purity. Eliot was looking for the Oliver Twist in him though, the little shit that was trying to manipulate them, but he was having a hard time. Seemingly genuine, but Eliot was still at a place where he wasn’t sure he could trust his own senses.

“What are you doing out here?” Eliot spoke with his most imperious voice, and just barely remembered to tack on a British accent. The boys eyes went round and he started shaking. Eliot had scared the shit out of him. Quentin took that moment to backhand Eliot, on his shins, nowhere he would actually hurt him, but Eliot’s brow shot up into his hairline nonetheless.

The boys eyes went even wider, and at that Eliot had to swallow his snicker. Quentin was meant to be a priest, or holy man if you will, and he’d just backhanded a lord. The boy was probably going to piss his pants. Eliot hadn’t introduced himself as a lord, but their clothes clearly indicated their stations, and historically people paid attention to shit like that.

“Sir if you please, I’m waiting for my sister.” Quentin nodded and encouraged the boy to speak. “The townsfolk around here are scared, and Lily, my sister, said we should get back to our Aunt’s house and out of this town before it got even worse.”

“What are they scared of?” Quentin asked.

“Well the demons, father, they’re scared of the devil. They say he’s cursed the girls of the town, and they’re doing his work.” The boy said, his voice stuttering out the words. Inherent respect for a man of the cloth was working in their favor as the boy didn’t even question why they either, a didn’t know about the demons, or b weren’t from around here.

Eliot turned back to check on Penny, and he seemed to be doing fine. Not drawing the attention of the boy thank god, and Quentin seemed to have things well enough in hand, so Eliot went back to the tree line to see if their visitors had passed on already. Clearly the events leading to the witch trials were already in motion, which meant the likelihood the hedges were here for that reason was incredibly high. Julia had mentioned maybe it was a red herring, and that they were here for something else entirely and the witch trials were a convenient distraction.

The people on the road had passed on, and Eliot, content that they were alone, went back to Quentin and the boy. Just in time for him to hear Quentin offer to help the boy find his sister. Goddamnit he thought, they were not here to play the good fucking Samaritans. Penny came up behind him. “We’re about 3 miles south of Salem, the map is showing a good chunk of forest south and north of town, all of which have faint traces of spellwork hanging around. Ambient here is off the charts, and I’m not picking up anything malevolent in terms of magic, but there are some really sick fucking people in this town.”

Eliot assumed the psychic was picking up gross emotional shit from the area, so he nodded. “We knew that coming in. What is the likelihood we can avoid the town altogether at this point?”

“Slim to fucking none.” Penny said with a grunt and Eliot believed him. There was 0 chance that Penny wanted to head into town to play servant boy. “Besides the fact that your idiot boy just offered our services.” Penny tilted his head at Simon and Quentin.

Eliot huffed out a breath. Not acknowledging Penny’s claim, but also not denying that Quentin was an idiot. There was no need to argue in front of the children, and whatever he said would inevitably lead to an argument. “Be that as it may, we should investigate the lingering spellwork, and if the two of you head into town with the little lost lamb it will provide something of a cover.”

“And you just come waltzing in later?”

“Traditionally speaking yes, Lords would send retainers ahead of them to secure lodging and such before they themselves arrived. It’ll give me time to scout the area, and at the very least I need a fucking horse.” Eliot said with a shudder and a sigh.

Quentin had stood up and pulled the boy over to the other two. He hadn’t heard what they said, Eliot knew, but Q knew him well enough to know what he would suggest. “Simon won’t be going back into town. It would be suspicious if we brought him back, if something has happened to his sister. It’s better if he stays out here, so his sister can come meet him like she’s meant to, and no one needs to know we know either of them.” Quentin said smartly. Eliot shrugged, he had a point. The less observed interaction they had with the locals, the less butterfly nonsense they would have to deal with.

“Penny and I should definitely go first though.” Quentin said, and Eliot raised a brow. Was he trying to get rid of him? Surely not. But then again maybe. Things between them had been weird, and Eliot knew it was largely because of his own bullshit. He had no one to blame but himself. Pushing Quentin away from him wasn't his first instinct, but he needed to get his instincts back in order. No one but Julia knew that he still had lingering traces of the Monster's desires inside of him. Not so he was a danger to others really, it was controllable, but they were there. Julia had lingering traces from the possession, but hers manifested less than Eliot's did. 

“I’ll wander around and then meet you in town before the light completely goes. Find somewhere for us to stay. I’ll bring a horse, but you two are going to need to take care of supplies.” Eliot glanced at Simon. The boy was paying attention, but he didn’t seem interested in the conversation. So very curious, Eliot looked him over suspiciously.

Penny nodded. “Alice mentioned something about this. I’ll take care of it. The horse should be easy enough for you.” He handed Eliot a map. “The locations of the activity are in blue.”

With that Eliot turned away, he almost wanted to pull Quentin into a hug just in case, but with the boy there it would probably bring complications. He was very aware that they were 300+ years in the past. But Quentin’s stupid ass was apparently either oblivious, or just didn’t give a shit because he said “Eliot for fuck’s sake.” In his... _I’m pissed at you, but you might die if you leave my sight, and I just can’t stand you being away from me, but I’m a grown up….however if you don’t hug me I might literally punch you in the face or die or both_...voice.

Eliot didn’t grin, but he wanted to, which was also stupid since he was doing his level best to distance himself from Quentin, but he turned back around and got a very enthusiastic arm full of Quentin Coldwater. He threw his arms around him, his short little body finding exactly where he fit, and hanging on. “Be careful.” He whispered. Eliot sighed into his hair and ran his hand soothingly down Quentin’s back, then squeezed him in acknowledgment. “Of course, Q. I’d hardly want to undo all of your hard work.” He kissed the top of Quentin’s head, then pushed their cheeks together.

Quentin was done with Eliot’s very purposeful distance though and jerked back just slightly. Eliot recognized his “ _I’m fed up with your bullshit_ ” look, and frowned. Quentin shrugged, put his hands on Eliot’s face, and kissed him softly. Eliot let him pull away, and before he could stop himself,  kissed Quentin’s forehead, then he pushed him towards Penny who was rolling his eyes so hard it was comical.

“Behave.” He said chidingly to them both.

“Sure, like that’s going to happen.”

“Fuck you Penny.” Quentin said as he pulled Penny along beside him.

“I’m not the one that wants to get fucked.” Penny said with infuriating know it all jackassness dripping from his tone.

Eliot listened to them, but he was watching Simon. The boy. The puritan boy. His eyes were so large it was apparent he’d never seen behavior like there’s before in his life. The boy sort of shrunk in on himself when he noticed Eliot watching him, and Eliot sort of felt a little bad about that. He was scared, his sister was missing, and these three outsiders were in his space. Eliot could empathize...slightly...very slightly, so he asked with a long suffering sigh. “What’s wrong?” Still not 100% sure if he gave a shit, but with Quentin gone, he was the only one around to make sure the little shit didn’t walk all over their plans. Accidentally or on purpose.

Simon stuttered, but he still managed to get out the words. “You kissed him.” Wonder filled his tone and Eliot thought he wasn’t even aware, “And you, hugged him….” Eliot’s whole body sagged. Goddamn it. God fucking damn it he thought viciously. This was not what he had signed up for when he agreed to time travel. Gently informing someone there was a world in which they could be accepted, was the last thing on his mind when they’d talked about Salem. But he recognized the light in the boys eyes, and felt a kindredness in his soul. Quentin you sneaky little bastard he thought with a vengeful snarl. The boy was still staring at him wide eyed and searching. Well fuck.

Carefully, not wanting to scare the child or send him into a Puritan crisis of faith, he said softly, “Yes, yes I did.” Not entirely sure where this was going to go, he didn’t turn away, but he didn’t offer more.

Simon looked into Eliot’s eyes, blue to hazel, a strength Eliot hadn’t recognized at first, sharpening the boys features. “It’s okay to do that, where you come from?”

Eliot breathed out a shaky chuckle. “Yeah, yeah it’s okay.” The boy didn’t seem incredulous or shocked, but Eliot saw his eyes start to water. Eliot felt the need to append his statement with, “Some people don’t like it, but it’s not illegal.”

“Oh.” Simon said thoughtfully, and it may have taken Eliot longer than Quentin, but the boy had just managed to worm his way into Eliot’s good graces. Which meant when the Hedgewitch stumbled across them a minute later and busted out a fireball, Eliot didn’t hesitate. He snapped the man's neck before the fire could get anywhere near Simon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny and Quentin discover what the hedge's are planning.

Penny shoved Quentin and laughed when the nerd tripped over his own feet. Didn’t matter what year they were in, Coldwater was predictable as shit. Eliot on the other hand was ping ponging like a mother fucker, and Penny was having a hard time getting a read on him. He’d deep dived his mind when the monster had been wearing him like a suit, and he’d seen some shit, but it was about par for the course. Nothing that really shocked him. He was ass over tits for Coldwater, he mostly hated himself, and he was as smart as Alice without trying and no fucking ambition to do anything with it. Eliot in a fucking nutshell. But lately, his psychic energy was off the charts, but he’d put a big fucking steel door of “nope fuck off” on his mind, so Penny couldn’t really see what was up with him. 

Coldwater on the other hand was taking the Eliot is an island shtick about as well as could be expected. Which was bad. The motherfucker sat in his room last week listening to the fucking sad sack playlist from hell, and weeping all over Julia about how Eliot was avoiding him. Penny never fucking understood why the dude’s mind called out to Penny specifically, but he wished like hell he could turn the shit off. And he’d never admit it, but he was more than capable of tuning just about everyone else out but Coldwater. It was a fucking tragedy. 

The woods were pretty thick, and Quentin actually wasn’t that bad at stomping his way through them. “So I know you’re like a different Penny or whatever, but 40 and me we went on a quest together in Fillory once where we hunted the white lady.”

23 rolled his eyes and shoved a low hanging branch out of the way, “Saying shit like that out loud Coldwater, in America circa 1600 is going to get me shot, let’s not reminisce.”

Quentin laughed for some reason and said almost happily, “You really are the same person.”

Penny had no idea what he was talking about and really didn’t care. They’d been walking for about an hour, so they were probably pretty close to Salem when he started hearing voices. Quentin was going on about the spells that Alice had cast on them before they left. Penny had sat through the same lecture though, so he was ignoring Quentin’s nerd out. The voices were slight, nothing overpowering, but he tried to tune in to see if they were saying anything important, when his whole viewscape went white. White like you’d stared into the sun for 10 minutes and you couldn’t see anything but light.

He couldn’t feel his body, but he could feel the warmth of the day; and he knew Quentin was beside him and that they’d stopped. His head snapped back, and he fell to the ground his shoulders catching the weight of his fall.

_ Eliot was on his knees, blood streaming down his face and all over his hands, screaming his lungs out in anguish. The boy, Simon, was on the ground in front of him. Darkness surrounded them, they were in something like a swamp. As soon as Penny tried to take in the details of his vision, it shifted. Quentin was tied to a tree with no branches in the middle of an open field. His clothes ripped to shreds, no blood, but he didn’t look good. The field didn’t look right, but Penny couldn’t put his finger on it, just that it was too bright for the sun and the grass was a little weird. The viewscape shifted again, and Penny could see the hedge witches in a circle holding hands. They hadn’t even bothered to dress the part, they were in jeans and t-shirts, chanting a spell.  _

As soon as it had started, it was over and Penny was laying on the ground with Quentin standing over him freaking the fuck out. Penny sighed. “Quit crying freak. I’m fine. I’m psychic, shit like this happens.” Penny pushed himself up to a sitting position, and watched Quentin take a deep breath and tuck some of his hair behind his ears. He took his own steadying breath and tried to absorb whatever the fuck he’d just seen. 

Reminding Quentin he was a psychic was as much to remind as to steady himself and remind himself that shit like this happened to him. It had been a long time, and he’d never seen visions of the future, not really, not like this one. And it was the future, he somehow knew that. Visions were way outside his wheelhouse. The traveling was cool as fuck, the metaphysical shit he could do without. Quentin shoved him, and Penny glared and popped him behind the knee making him stumble when he tried to stand. He didn’t care how sensitive Quentin was, he was never going to let him get away with shit like that. Quentin glared at Penny as he stood, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well.” He snapped.

Penny rolled his eyes. “I have no idea dude. I saw some shit. Could be the future, could be magic, could be something, could be nothing. We move the fuck on until we either know more or something happens.” Penny said with a shrug.

Quentin rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think you should share?”

“No, you don’t own what’s in my head.” Despite the fact that he’d seen him in the vision. He couldn’t explain it, and he knew Quentin couldn’t either, so there was no use dwelling. They’d figure it out or they wouldn’t.

“Right” Quentin snapped, and continued stomping his way before Penny into the forest towards the town.

**

“Penny he’s an hour late. We’ve been at this stupid inn for over five hours. Do something!” Quentin hissed. This was beyond fucked up, Eliot was meant to be here before dark and it’d been dark for well over an hour. Quentin knew Penny was worried as well. They may get along for shit, but he could tell when the other magician was concerned. 

“Well we can’t just leave town and go find him Quentin, we need more information.” Penny said reasonably.

And for some reason that was the last straw. Quentin was done. He rolled his shoulders back and marched towards the door. “Fuck you.” He said hotly as he left the room.

“Goddamnit Quentin.” he heard Penny mutter. He didn’t give a shit. They were basically in hostile territory, outside their own time, with no idea what the fuck was going on. And Eliot was out there somewhere. Alone. Quentin jogged down the steps and slipped out the back door of the inn. Alice’s possession of him had taught him a lot of basic useful spells, and he pulled all of the misdirection spells he’d learned to the surface, muttering them quickly and shifting his hands as fast as he was able, to make sure no one could see him as he stomped his way towards the forest. 

“Coldwater you’re a pain in my ass.” Penny said from beside him as he swished his hands and a ball of light appeared beside them.

“Yeah, whatever.” Quentin said as he followed the glitter of the tracking spell he’d kicked off the minute he hit the treeline.

Less than an hour later, they found Eliot and it was just as much of a cluster fuck as Quentin had feared. Simon and Eliot were both bound in a circle, surrounded by 6 witches in blue jeans. Well fuck.

“They didn’t disguise themselves.” Penny said confused, trying to distract himself from the fact that he'd already known that. The witches from his vision. “I didn’t have to wear this fucking getup after all. I hate all of you.”

Quentin nodded and crouched down, pulling Penny with him. “What are they saying?” Penny waved his hand to shush him. Clearly listening to the witches talk to one another. Quentin focused in on Eliot and Simon. The fire in the clearing provided enough light for Quentin to see that they weren’t hurt, and in fact if he wasn’t mistaken, Eliot had already unbound his hands. Simon was quietly crying where he sat beside Eliot, hiding his face in Eliot’s shoulder. Eliot was probably listening just as intently as Penny. Quentin stayed crouched down, but shifted away from Penny so he wouldn’t disturb the Magician as he absorbed whatever the idiots in the clearing were planning. Penny could listen to them talk, he wanted to know what spells they were actively using.

Reveal spells existed in the thousands, so Quentin weighed his options. Needing something that would tell him what the magic was, but wouldn’t actually alert anyone that he was looking, he settled on a ward observation spell. It would allow him to see what was around him, kind of like Margo’s fairy eye. Moving his hands and whisper chanting the words, he was surprised to look out over the clearing and only see two spells. One was keeping the fire going, the other was a very rudimentary warding construct.

The Magicians in the clearing were winding down, so Quentin went back over to Penny. “Well?” he asked.

Penny looked at him with his wide crazy eyes. “These bastards are trying to use the belief the Salem people have in the devil to raise a fucking god.” Penny said furiously. 

Quentin fell back on his ass, looking at Eliot in horror. “What the fuck do they have Eliot for? Do they know who he is?”

Penny sat beside him. “Nah man, they just found him snooping around one of the fake altars. All those places on the maps, they’re fake satanic worship sites that these fuckers set up to scare the village. They’re actively encouraging the belief in god and the devil so they can power their fucking spell.”

Quentin dropped his head into his hands, and ran his fingers through his hair furiously because fuck these people. Did they not understand that fucking with gods would fuck everyone? Stupid fucking hedge witches. “What god are they trying to raise?”

“I don’t know, and Eliot’s shut down pretty tight so I’m not getting anything off of him either, and…..the boy has been warded.” 

“Simon has psychic wards? Did Eliot do it?” Quentin was curious. He was pretty sure that Eliot didn’t like the boy, and warding strangers was a bit out of character for Eliot.

“I don’t know, they’re good enough to be his, maybe you should get him to fucking help you.” Penny said with a shove at Quentin’s shoulder. Then he shook his head. “Whatever, we need to get them out and shut this shit down. The last thing we need is another fucking god roaming the world fucking our shit up.” 

“Agreed. Any idea when this is all supposed to go down?”

“Full moon is tomorrow night, they’re setting the spell up further in the woods.”

“We can’t actually take six Magicians Penny. You want to travel them out?” Quentin pushed himself to his feet. Worried about Eliot, worried about Simon, worried about Simon’s sister, and well just fucking worried. They could foil a spell, but taking out more than 6 hedge witches all together was a little daunting.

“I can’t travel into the wards dipshit.” Penny was trying to think. The fucking vision was pushing him every which way. Either the future was inevitable and the vision was useless, or he needed to try to change the steps that lead to Simon dying and whatever the fuck happened to Eliot and Quentin. Talking about it with Quentin would lead him to wanting to tear out what little hair he had left, the little nerd would just freak the fuck out. Eliot, for all of his bullshit bitching and moaning, was actually really level headed in a crisis. “We need to get his attention anyway, he might be planning something, would suck if we fucked it up.”

Quentin tilted his head to the side and his eyes lit up like a fucking Disney character. “Oh I know.” He stood beside the tree, and did a quick spell that Penny had never seen and couldn’t follow. Eliot immediately looked up and stared directly at them. He shook his head, looked down at Simon, sighed, and moved his hands behind him.

“What the fuck did you do?”

“Shut up Penny.” Quentin said absently.

Penny swung around “Motherfucker, you do not.”

Quentin slapped his arm and shushed him. Then Penny realized that Eliot was moving his mouth. He was talking? What the fuck? He looked at Quentin nodding his head and making humming noises, how the hell had he got Eliot’s attention through the wards. It had to be a benign spell, otherwise the wards would have stopped it.

Quentin nodded a final time and turned to Penny. “He can break the wards, he’s just worried about Simon. So he breaks the wards on our call, and you travel them out.”

Penny glared. “How’d you get his attention?” 

Quentin turned fire engine red, and his mind went white. Penny glared. Quentin was an open book for the most part, but sometimes he would either remember something or go somewhere in his mind that Penny couldn’t follow. Not that he’d ever really wanted to, but the white space was pretty intriguing. Probably the most intriguing thing about the idiot.

“None of your business. It’s something we worked out a long time ago.” Quentin said nervously.

“You have captivity contingency plans? What the fuck Coldwater.” Penny crossed his arms over his chest. Not sure why he was pushing this other than he had a fundamental issue with Coldwater keeping secrets. Secrets had led to his Quentin in his timeline turning into a rage monster, soooo not the biggest fan of secrets.

“Oh my god will you let it the fuck go, and get us the hell out of here?” Quentin whisper shouted.

“Nope. Not letting it go, and we’re not going anywhere until you tell me.” Penny wasn’t above holding his skills over their heads to get what he wanted, and Quentin was usually pretty easy. He’d give in when his worry over Eliot superseded his embarrassment over whatever the fuck this was.

“Oh my god do you have to be such an asshole.” Quentin looked up at the dark branches above them, heaved a huge sigh, and Penny  noted that his face got even more red before he rubbed his hands over his cheeks. “Fine Jesus, it’s sex magic. Eliot taught me a long time ago, it’s both a touch and communication spell. It doesn't trip wards, because wards don't generally have a condition for consensual sex magic in them. Happy now, get us the fuck out of here.”

Penny’s eyes went wide. He’d heard from well the other gossipy bitches in their group about the disastrous threesome, that ended the epic romance between Alice and Quentin, but he’d thought that had been a one time thing. Apparently fucking not if Eliot was teaching Quentin sex magic. Penny shrugged. “Let’s do this.”

Quentin glared, “I hate you.” he turned back to Eliot and apparently told him to break the wards. One explosion later, and Penny grabbed Quentin’s arm and picked up Simon and Eliot, and traveled them out of the dark forest into the room at the inn. In hindsight he probably should have made sure Simon was unconscious before he made a move.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Quentin was doing his level best to calm the boy down, but he was screaming bloody murder. Eliot had immediately cast a silencing ward on the room, but really, having a screaming child in the room was never ideal. Simon was curled up against the wall as far away from them as he could conceivably get, and Quentin was inching closer so he could try to soothe the boys fears.

“You’re demons. You’re witches working for the devil.” Simon moaned.

“No, no I promise Simon we don’t work for the devil.” Quentin said in his most reassuring voice.

“But you used magic, magic is the devil’s work.” 

“For gods sake.” Eliot muttered. Moved his hands in a quick tut, and then pointed a finger at Simon. The boy fell into an immediate sleep. “We’ll just tell him he had a nightmare when he wakes up, and everything will be fine. I’ve already fuzzed the memory of me killing the hedge witch we ran into.” 

Quentin gaped. “You killed someone, what the hell Eliot.”

“Hedge witch threw a fireball at the boy. I killed him. 6 more hedge witches came out of the trees and put ropes around our hands. It wasn’t my first choice for figuring out their plans, but it all worked out in the end.” Eliot said with a nonchalance that made Quentin wince. 

“Why were they after the boy?” Penny interjected.

Eliot turned to Penny. “What?”

“Why did they attack the boy first and not you? Why was he the target?” Penny asked.

Eliot couldn’t believe he was such a fucking idiot. “Shit. That wasn’t fire, it was meant to look like fire, but it was a containment spell. That’s why nothing caught on fire when it dropped. I wasn’t fucking paying attention. They need a vessel for the god. Shit.” He said haltingly. 

“Why the boy though?” Penny was pacing in front of the window, more keyed up than Quentin had seen him in a long time.

Quentin said fuck under his breath, then groaned as he said “he’s receptive. Not just anyone can carry around a god at full power. He has to be a magician, and he has to be a pretty powerful one.”

“Going to be, he’s going to be a powerful one. He’s only 13. This is fucked up. So now we have to kill the spell, and keep wunderkind here away from the hedges. We really need to put a moratorium on idiots fucking around with gods, us included.” Eliot took off his dirty jacket and threw it on the bed, then picked the boy up from the floor where he’d curled himself, and placed him on the bed beside the jacket. “Quentin stay with Simon, Penny can I talk to you outside?” 

“Are you kidding me right now. What’s going on?” Quentin all but whined as he glared at Eliot.

“Quentin leave it alone.” They stared at one another for what seemed like an age, but Quentin finally wilted and sat down on the bed with the boy. 

Penny was impressed as he followed Eliot out of the room. “How’d you get him to just stop arguing, that shit never works for me.”

Eliot shrugged and walked outside. “He trusts me not to hurt him. He doesn’t fully trust you not to be a dick. It’s a fairly simple concept.” Eliot said with just a hint of a bite to his tone.

Penny glared all the same.”What do you want?”

Eliot turned around until he was facing Penny fully. “I’m not letting them have the boy. If it comes down to it, let the god possess me and then kill me.”

Penny gaped. “That’s fucked up Eliot, Quentin shouldn’t fucking trust you apparently. That would literally kill him, not to mention I wouldn’t have the slightest idea of how to do it anyway.”

Eliot shrugged. “ I learned a couple of things being trapped with a god’s memories. I’ll show you how, you just promise me you’ll do it.” he was passed the point of semantics. There was no way in hell he was going to let another god in this world to torment Quentin. No fucking way. If it took being a vessel again, well so fucking be it, but he was going to make damn sure they killed him this time. Giving Penny permission was a signed permission slip to send his ass to Hades.

Penny stared, then he ran through the vision he’d seen. Eliot screaming over the boy, but he had no way of knowing if Eliot was possessed or the boy was. “I had a vision of the future.” He stated a little bit unsure. 

Eliot blinked. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. You were covered in blood, the boy was on the ground in front of you, and you were screaming. Quentin was tied to a tree in a field, that wasn’t right but I can’t explain it, and the hedges were in a circle chanting.” Penny leaned against the wall, in the shadows.

Eliot matched his pose and sighed. “Well shit. Not a lot of detail to unpack there, but shit is going to go down. Not killing me then I guess.”

“What do we do if it possess Quentin?” Penny purposefully kept his face turned away.

“If we don’t stop them and it possess Q, I’ll take care of it.” Eliot said darkly, and Penny knew without asking that he’d kill Quentin and himself at the same time. They’d go out together because Eliot was through letting the world suffer for his mistakes. Penny could feel it coming off of him, the pure determination not to let this turn into an absolute fucking shit show. Looking up at the night sky he had to wonder how long fate was going to let them keep making choices like this, like who gave them the authority to even decide what to do with an un-tethered god. Stars lit up the sky, and as he stared his vision went white. A flash of pure blinding light, and Penny couldn’t stop his descent to the floor. He could feel Eliot crouch down beside him.

> _ Quentin and Eliot were floating in an ocean of blue water with their eyes closed and a sort of misty haze surrounding them, peace and tranquility engulfed Penny at the sight. The scene darkened quickly, and Penny could see himself wrapped around the little boy protecting him. They were in the same swampy forest, the hedges were crouched down now their hands clasped, chanting louder and louder. _

“Another vision?” Eliot asked as he helped Penny to his feet.

“Yeah, they’re weird as fuck. You and Quentin were like floating in an ocean, and I was with the hedges protecting the boy. I don’t fucking get it. None of this makes any sense.”

“Yeah prophets are crazy for a reason dude.” Eliot said as he did a quick spell over Penny to make sure he wasn’t brain damaged. Penny hadn’t even thought about brain damage or blood in his skull, that it had been Eliot’s first thought was just another contradiction in Eliot’s character. He’d talk shit until he was blue in the face, but he was almost always the first one on hand with a healing spell or some sort of comfort object. It was fucking weird.

Penny’s eyes went round and he shook his head, “fuck to the no man. I am not a fucking prophet, I’m a traveler.”

“No book in the world says you can’t be both, and this does mean killing the god isn’t really going to fly.” Eliot said with disappointed sigh. “Goddamnit. We’re going to have to play this one out. Did you get a sense in your vision of us fucking up?”

“No actually it was all sort of quiet and peaceful. I don’t know what the hell is going on but I need a minute.” Penny looked out at the night and he needed to feel like he was on solid ground again. Looking at Eliot he frowned, “I’m going for a walk. I’ll take first watch, you and Quentin take care of the boy.” 

“Yeah, don’t get caught by the natives.” Eliot waved him away and went back into the small little inn.

**

Quentin frowned at Eliot when he walked back in the room, and didn’t get up from the bed. The bed was pushed against the wall, and Q had propped his back up on the wall, his feet dangling off the side of the bed. Eliot for all he was acting like a complete weirdo lately, chose that moment to drop some of his walls. Crawling onto the bed with Quentin, he put his head in his lap and looked up at him. “Hey.” he said quietly.

Quentin smiled tightly, “hey.” 

Eliot poked him in the chest, “Come down here.” Quentin rolled his eyes but complied. They rearranged themselves until they were laying on their sides face to face.

“You ready to tell me?” Quentin asked.

“No, not really.” 

Quentin, exasperated by Eliot’s reticence pushed his shoulder. Eliot caught his hand and pulled him in closer. “Damnit Eliot.”

“You used to call me sweetheart, Damnit Eliot is beginning to sound a lot like that.” Eliot said with a cheeky grin.

“You are not cute.” Quentin huffed, but Eliot’s grin was kind of infectious. “Ugh. I really want to hit you right now.”

Eliot laughed, “Endearments and love taps, whatever am I going to do with you darling.”

Quentin rolled his eyes so hard he felt his face pinch. “Eliot be serious.”

Eliot’s face went tense, and he pulled Quentin closer to him. “Alright baby, you want serious I guess I can be serious.” Pushing a hand up into Quentin’s hair, he pulled his head back and massaged his neck. “Bad stuff is going to start happening to us, specific I know, but because we are who we are it’s going to keep happening to us. This isn’t like the mosaic. We’re always going to be in the middle of some fucking crisis or the other. And I came to some deeply troubling conclusions while I was recovering.” Eliot tried his best to put into words what had been happening since he was de-possessed. Quentin deserved to know the truth before they chased down the hedge witches and potentially unleashed hell on earth. Again.

Quentin was floored. This is as close to the real Eliot as Quentin had seen in months. He was being honest, he was opening up, and he wasn’t hiding. “What, what’s wrong. You can tell me.” Doing his level best to keep the desperation out of his tone but also convey his need for answers.

Eliot closed his eyes and said the thing he’d been dreading saying since he realized what was wrong, “sometimes, I can feel him. The monster. Like he’s not all the way gone. I get these urges, and I can tell it’s him and not me, but it still freaks me the fuck out.” Eliot let out the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. Quentin’s eyes were wide as fuck, and he had frozen beside Eliot.

Quentin was devastated. “Margo knows?”

Eliot looked confused for a second. “No of course not. I haven’t told anyone.”

Quentin frowned, confused. The past months still not making any sense. “Then why did you let her back in? Why is she allowed to be near you, but you avoid me like I’m a leper?”

“Because I don’t have to fight urges to fucking hurt her.” Eliot said sharply.

“You want to hurt me? The monster never really wanted to hurt me? Are you sure?” Quentin shuffled back just a little so he could see Eliot’s eyes.

Eliot looked stricken. “No god Quentin no I don’t want to hurt you. I just sometimes, when I’m around you, there’s this remnant of the monster that wants to feel your pain for choosing me over him. It’s a slight consciousness that I can’t fully purge. I’ve been researching endlessly to try and find something, but it’s not like god possession is all that common even amongst magicians. I could probably write a more comprehensive book than some of the fucking useless garbage I’ve waded through over the past few months.”

Quentin glared. “If you’d fucking said something we could have helped.”

Eliot glared right back. “If I’d fucking said something there’s no way Alice wouldn’t have locked my ass up in the Library. She’s pissed at me as is, all she needed was a reason.” 

Quentin didn’t soften but he slightly conceded the point. “So what exactly have you found out? Is it a piece of power, consciousness, or is it physical?”

Eliot sighed. “I honestly have no idea. The urges are kind of like a habit. It’s like cigarettes. I get the urge for one, but I can resist it. Part of the reason I quit is because of this shit. I needed to make sure I could kick a habit.”

“But it’s specifically me you get the urges around?”

“Yeah, it’s like the monster left behind some piece of magic that specifically wants to see you hurt, physically or emotionally, and I can’t get it fucking out of me.” Eliot said stricken. Putting all of this into words was making his heart hurt. Telling Quentin hadn’t been on the top of his list of things to do, but he deserved to know. Eliot wanted nothing more than to curl up as small as he could make himself and let Quentin wrap himself around him, but he was afraid that if he gave into the urge that he might let his guard down and hurt Q.

Quentin was absorbing everything, working his way around the problem, and the frown of concentration on his face made Eliot smile. Quentin very absentmindedly began to stroke his hands up and down Eliot’s back. Clearly lost in thought, but not so pissed with Eliot that he wasn’t trying to soothe the tension out of his body. Closing his eyes Eliot was so fucking grateful he’d been put in Quentin’s path, even after all the shit they’d been through, he wouldn’t give up knowing this man for anything in the world. Almost every happy memory he could pull to the surface was in some way wrapped up in the man in his arms, and wasn’t that just a fucking miracle. 

**

“Wake up assholes, we have some hedge witches to shut down.” Penny shouted as he came through the door. Eliot and Quentin had separated after having their talk last night. Eliot still wasn’t willing to totally let his guard down around Quentin, not trusting himself, even if Quentin did. Quentin had assured him profusely that this was going to be their priority when they got back home. Eliot didn’t want to tell him he didn’t think they were going back home.

Eliot stood up just as Quentin groaned and rolled over. Simon hadn’t stirred once since he’d put him on the bed, and Eliot might be a little concerned but his breathing was fine. He was probably just exhausted from the trauma of the past day.

“What are we going to do with Simon?” Quentin mumbled as he got up and checked on Simon. 

“Take him with us. Why fight the inevitable. Survey says the hedges find him regardless of what we do. May as well keep an eye on him.” Penny announced as he threw Eliot’s jacket at him and impatiently motioned for them to hurry up. 

Quentin shrugged, not opposed to the idea. “We need food, and we also should at some point figure out what happened to Simon’s sister. I mean I feel fucking awful for everything that’s happened to him, the least we can do is get his sister for him.”

“About that, I’m pretty sure she’s with the hedges. I may or may not have had another vision thing last night.” Penny said with a shrug.

“And you didn’t lead with that? What the fuck!” Quentin whisper hissed at him.

“It didn’t have anything useful in it, none of them have so far. But I saw the hedges in the forest again, his sister was in the circle holding hands, and Simon was in the middle of the circle.” 

“Fucking perfect, how do you know it’s his sister.” Quentin snapped. 

Penny shrugged. “They look a lot alike, and I just know. Like I know the sun is up, grass is green and you’re a fucking idiot.”

Eliot flicked his wrist and a pillow hit Penny in the face, then he put his jacket on and started working a food conjuring spell. Penny threw the pillow at Quentin but kept his eyes on Eliot’s hands. He was hungry. Apparently breakfast burritos were on the menu. Quentin grabbed two off the table before Penny could get to them and brought one over to Simon. The boy woke up groggy as hell, Eliot’s spell had put him on his ass. Sure enough he wasn’t freaking out, so he just thought it was a nightmare. He was more fascinated by the burrito. Quentin claimed it was an English thing. 

“So Simon, we’re going out to the woods because the witches are out there. Your sister is with them. Do you want to go with us?” Quentin asked softly.

Simon swallowed his bite of burrito and said “Yes, please. I need to make sure she’s okay. We need to leave town.” 

Quentin nodded at him. “It’s going to be dangerous, you need to do everything we tell you. Can you do that?”

“You guys aren’t really British are you? I mean sometimes you talk right, but most times you don't’ sound like anyone I’ve ever met. And you don’t act like anyone I’ve ever met. What are you really doing here?” Simon looked around at each of them.

Quentin sighed piecing the truth together into something believable. “We’re here to protect this town. We’re like witch hunters kind of. There are some bad witches in this town and we need to make sure they don’t hurt anyone.”

“Did god send you?” The boy asked guilelessly and Quentin could see Eliot try to contain his snort of derision. 

“In a way yes.” Quentin said.

“We should get going.” Penny interrupted. Quentin nodded in agreement and tried to reconcile what Eliot had told him last night with everything they were about to go up against. His heart hurt because Eliot was scared to hurt him; his brain hurt because fuck time travel, prophecy future telling bullshit, and gods; and he just wanted to go home and curl up for like a year where nothing fucking went wrong. They’d been through so much, he just wanted some time where they could be and not have to do.


	5. The End

Quentin groaned and struggled against the bindings around his hands. He was tied to a freaking tree. The air around him was salty, and felt like magic against his skin. Blue skies and white sand were all he could see in the distance. He could still feel the magic from the hedge witches, but it was like he was isolated in a room just beyond them. They’d entered the forest, and it was like a magic tether had drawn them to the witches. 

A shouting match had occurred where Eliot did his level best to parse what the hell was going on. The witches explained they wanted to bring back the goddess of death. If they brought her back, then the gods wouldn’t be able to kill mortals because the goddess of death wouldn't accept the useless destruction of life. The destruction of mortal life would once again have consequences because there were rules. Eliot had argued until they were all screaming, but in the end the witches had enough and lashed out.

In the skirmish, the hedges had taken Simon and bound the others. Forcing them all to walk in the woods, within the hour they had been deep in the swampy dregs of a forest that Quentin wasn’t even sure was real. The witches wasted very little time getting settled, and had stood in a circle and started reciting the spell. 

Magic pulsed, a whirlwind of debris whipped around them cutting into their skin. Eliot was not sitting idyll, he had managed to get away from the bindings and make it to Simon’s side right as the magic slammed into the boy. Eliot was thrown back into a tree and Quentin tried to get his bindings undone, but it was no use.

Between one blink and the next he was no longer in the forest but in this desert of sand, bound. He couldn’t feel the power from the witches any longer, and he had no idea where he was.

Closing his eyes he wished that Eliot had thought to unbind all of them before going for Simon, and when he opened his eyes a woman appeared before him. Sitting lotus style and staring at him curiously.

“What do you want?” She asked in a deep resonating voice.

Quentin at this point just went with it. This day couldn’t get any more fucked up or confusing. 

He didn’t know how or why he felt her voice like a weight on his soul, but she was the most powerful being he’d ever felt, and he’d been in the presence of gods.  If she wasn’t a god, he’d be damned surprised. Skin darker than anything he’d ever seen, short cropped hair, a powerful commanding gaze, and beautiful hands clasped before her. Quentin noticed her eyes weren’t brown, but black, and held within them a void he was afraid to look at for too long. She was beautiful, as most gods he met were, but she seemed so dim. Like her light was all but gone.

“I don’t know where I am.” Treading lightly with his words.

“You are dead. Or mostly dead. Something is tethering you to this limbo with me. Unusual. Highly unusual.” She said as she tilted her head and tapped her chin with one finger, clearly trying to puzzle out why Quentin was with her. He wondered if she was the one who tied him up, for some reason he was inclined to think she hadn’t.

“What do you want?” Quentin asked softly tugging at the ropes that bound him. 

The woman’s eyes went wide, clearly startled. “No one has asked me that for more than 100,000 years mortal. What power have you touched to bring you before me?” She asked curiously, and Quentin could feel an almost maternal comfort coming from her.

Quentin blinked. “Not sure really. Who are you?”

Any kindness Quentin thought she might have possessed, evaporated when she said gravely. “I am death.”

Quentin breathed out a long sigh of utter exasperation, his life ladies and gentleman. How could he have possibly imagined that death could be maternal. “Well, I don’t suppose you know how to get us out of here, because this definitely isn’t the underworld.”

**

Eliot was on his knees, right where fate and the universe seemed to like him best, with grief and pain an exploding fountain inside of him. Quentin was gone. The boy was dead. And  Penny was currently holding hands with the hedge witches, desperately trying to change both of those realities.

They were chanting, a rhythmic beat that pulsed in the dark moonlit forest. Eliot could feel the power, but he also knew that they were fighting the inevitable. A swelling torrent of power rose up from the center of the circle, and then popped like a useless bubble fluttering into the wind.

Eliot crawled over to Simon once again, his body protesting every movement. He placed one hand on Simon’s forehead and the other on his stomach. The hedge witches along with Penny, had collapsed when the spell imploded, so they couldn’t stop him. Instincts had a lot to do with how adept Eliot had always been at magic. He had a very good aptitude for reading an environment and coming to conclusions about the elements within.

The witches had summoned a god, and they were trying to piggyback off of that power to sustain Simon’s life force. The dipshits didn’t understand that there was no life force to sustain. The spell should have been built around the understanding that they would need to bring his life force back, as it was fucking gone. Eliot searched, but he felt nothing. Simon was gone and so was Quentin. 

Eliot wanted to rage. Scream into the darkness. Destroy the world around him. The monster inside of him, the small sliver that was left, was going to let him do just that when the darkness descended into a black sightless void around him.

“I have never felt power like yours mortal. Where did you get it?” A disembodied voice slithered around him.

“Who are you?” Eliot growled as he wiped the blood from his face, desperately trying to see into the void.

“Did you not summon me?” The voice dipped into something more dainty. Feminine. And the darkness surrounding Eliot lifted. 

He was still standing in the forest, but the witches , Penny and Simon were gone. “No, I didn’t summon you. Who are you?” Eliot said firmly as the goddess speaking to him came into focus. Eliot was a little startled by how not attractive she was. If Eliot saw her in a crowd he would never be able to pick her out. She was plain. Brown. And incredibly dull. Long mud brown hair fell to her hips, her figure was box like, and she was incredibly off putting. Eliot loved it, and was incredibly suspicious of that feeling.

There was something so very ordinary about every inch of her, but he could feel the mountain of power she held in just her fingertips. Nothing in her was looking to impress anyone. She didn’t have to. Eliot relaxed. Gods were always so fucking over the top, you could feel every disingenuous minute in their presence, but not his one. 

She tilted her head. “Persistent. Interesting. The other one is much less forceful, though no less intriguing.” Eliot’s attention snapped into focus. Who was she talking about. She seemed to have some interest in her surroundings and rolled her fingers in front of her like she was playing a piano. Around them the grass changed into a field of poppies, and the symbolism was not lost on Eliot. Death, beautiful death.

“Who?” Eliot could barely get the word out.

“I think between the four of us, we can work very well together. Your Q is almost as interesting as you mortal.”

Eliot stepped towards the woman, “Where is he?”

She tilted her head up to the night sky. “He is out of my reach at the moment, but not unreachable.”

Fucking cryptic deities. Eliot snorted with disgust. “What do you want?”

“Balance. Scales. Justice. Broken threads mended.” She said as she clasped her hands behind her.

Eliot was wary, but of all the gods he’d come into contact with, Julia included, she was seemingly level headed. “What does that mean?”

She sighed. “I am the goddess of life. Not fertility, not the inherent ability to create life, I am the goddess of the spark, the soul, that which makes you alive. And I have been dead for 100,000 years. You may call me Crys.” She paused for a moment letting Eliot absorb that fact. “The little witches below were on the right track. In a sense. They just didn’t have the whole of the story.”

“You mean bringing back the god of death will stop gods being able to kill humans?” Eliot asked astonished.

“Not entirely. You need us both. But to bring back my partner, they needed more power than any group of mortals possess. Maybe.”

“Your partner. I thought Hades and Persephone were the gods of life and death.” Eliot said a little bit confused.

“Nuance has been lost over a few millennia. Hades as he is known to you, is the ruler of the realm of the dead. He is not the god of death. Likewise Persephone is the Queen of the realm of death, and the goddess of the season of growth. Life is an aspect of her power. I am the foundation from which she draws her power. My partner is the foundation from which Hades draws his.”

“Bringing you back would make them more powerful.” Eliot said shrewdly.

The goddess nodded. “Yes, but as the primal essences, we are not driven by the need for human belief. Our essence is a part of the very primordial pieces of the world. In killing us, they crippled themselves.”

“Why and how did they kill you?” Eliot started to pace, tense with the revelations.

A quiet sigh echoed in the twilight surrounding them, “they believed that they would absorb us, that our power would become their own. It was a belief they held right up until our deaths. As for how, as any god kills another, they played our weaknesses against us.”

Eliot tried to absorb everything she was saying, but his mind kept going back to Q and Simon. Caring about life and death were kind of hard, when death was currently holding one of the most important people in his life. He stared at the goddess with resignation. “What do you need from me? And how do I get Quentin and Simon back?”

“I need you to let me in, and I need the power inside of you to wake up my partner.” 

Eliot sighed. “You want to possess me.”

“Nothing so crass. You will have a part of me inside you, and thus you will be bound to me for the remainder of your life. Much like you are bound to the god who is inside of you now.”

“You can’t let him out. He’ll destroy the world.” Eliot said frantically.

“His essence will be entirely consumed by Nova. Worry not little magician. The gods created a powerful being, but they cannot create a source.”

“Yeah but they can apparently kill you so…Just promise me he can’t hurt anyone if you do this.”

“Eliot. I am the god of life. It is not in me to cause the destruction of that which makes me who I am.” She said it matter of factly, but Eliot felt the words in his bones and nodded his head. What the fuck did he have to lose at this point.

Eliot felt it when her power engulfed him, he felt it when the darkness that was the monster was finally gone, in its place was a vast clear lake of calm, and Eliot wanted to weep with the sheer beauty of being free. He watched as the darkness separated from her, and built into a bubbling well of inky blackness rolling across the poppies she’d called forth earlier.

From the bright red poppies, out of the blackest of night, two people rose up on their knees and Eliot almost collapsed with relief. Quentin walked toward him, disbelief maring his features, but quickly discarding it and throwing himself at Eliot. The other being was a woman. Beautiful dark skin, black eyes, and a sharp wicked look for the world around her. The god of death, presumably Nova. Eliot didn’t care to dwell and just hid his face in Quentin’s shoulder. Only for it to snap right back up when the gods began to speak in synch.

“Eliot, I Crys grant you the first boon as the high priest of my order.” The goddess of life intoned.

“Quentin, I Nova grant you the first boon as high priest of my order.” The goddess of death intoned.

Eliot felt power from both of the gods wrap itself around him and Q like a tangible blanket. Quentin’s grip didn’t become any less fierce, but he did pull back and look at Eliot in awe. They said Simon’s name together, and the gods chuckled behind them.

The scene shifted and the men were lying a clear blue lake, looking up at a white cloudless sky. Dancing lights, and floating magic swirled above them. Quentin giggled, it was just so magical he couldn’t help but  grin in sheer wonderment. Reaching out to grab Eliot’s hand, Quentin knew if they put their hands into the twinkling lights, together they would be able to grab Simon’s essence from the air before them. Reaching out, touching Simon’s soul, the world shifted once again and they were kneeling over the boys body laying their hands on his chest and grinning at each other maniacally.

“We did it.” Eliot said softly.

“Yeah and no one died, forever.” Quentin smiled beatifically.

“Our bar seriously needs to be raised Q.” Eliot said with a groan.

The world around them was very slowly coming back into focus and Simon was breathing. 

Unfortunately the gods also came back into focus, and Eliot frowned his hands twitching just the slightest bit. He admitted internally that having the monster out of him was a huge relief, but he didn’t really have a frame of reference for this new god. Who knew what the hell he’d signed up for. 

“Getting the gods under control.” the mousey one stated firmly and succinctly. Every hedge in the clearing turned to face her, Penny gaped, Quentin looked confused, and Simon was too busy hugging his sister to pay any attention. None of them knew what the hell was going on or who the two women were.

Eliot glared. “I’m concerned about that why?”

“It is the providence of mortals to take their place in the balance. We are primals. You are mortal. The creation of the gods, the sustainability of the gods, requires both of us. Primals have always had Priests.”

Eliot grimaced, hard, noticeably and shook his head adamantly. “Can we not be priests, there are a lot of really bad connotations with priests in modern lexicon. I have zero desire to be priestly.”

The dark god laughed. “Heralds then, or champions, or  well what about Wizards?” The tone was thoughtful, deep, and held the wisdom of eternity. Eliot was no closer to getting used to the words coming from the dark woman. Wizards would be interesting. Magicians played fast and lose with titles, but modern magic users generally accepted wizards to be purely fantastical.

The two men looked at one another.  “Why wizards?” Quentin asked in his soft curious voice.

“Your powers will evolve, you are both connected to us after all. This will make you more powerful than your counterparts, and as we gather the other Primals to deal with this mess, they will need voices as well. A wizard’s council is an acceptable alternative.”

Quentin nodded along. “Okay, I guess I don’t mind that so much. So what now?”

“Now you all go home. Nova will see you safely back to your time. You must take the boy and sister with you. Their minds have been too damaged by the magic, and they were originally to die in this timeline. Removing them causes far less disruption than letting them create diverging time paths.” A light breeze picked up floating through the thick swamp, and Eliot closed his eyes. Warmth infused him and when he opened his eyes they were back home staring into the wide eyes of Margo. Before he could even get out a hey, the girls were surrounding all of them and freaking out.

 

**

Eliot lay on his bed with a huge sigh. They’d gotten back and everything was settled down. The rest of the magicians were full of questions, and furiously searching for any changes made to the timeline. Penny was actually fielding most of the questions from the girls, and Quentin was working on getting the new additions to the timeline settled. What the hell they were going to do with them, they had no idea.

Just as Eliot felt his eyes drift shut, a soft knock startled him into wakefulness. Quentin didn’t wait for an acknowledgement, he just walked right in and climbed on the bed. Eliot raised his brow. Quentin shook his head and glared. Eliot rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Shut up.” Quentin muttered. “Shut up and take your pants off.”

Eliot sputtered. “What?”

“Did god possession make you stupid, I said take your pants off.” Quentin said in a rush as he pulled his shirt over his head.

Eliot frowned, concern coloring his tone as he started to ask “you don’t think this is a little sudd.”

Quentin was having none of it and cut him off with pure exasperation, “Oh for gods sake Eliot. I love you, idiocy and all. You were avoiding me for magic reasons. Stupid magic reasons, but whatever. We’re not sleeping with other people, and frankly I’m just about fucking fed up with excuses. So get your pants off because your ideas suck, mine are better, and we’re going to do what I want to do now, unless you are just absolutely anti sex in which case I’ll go talk to the girls and see what the fuck has possessed you this time.” Quentin was all but growling and a little breathless as he finished his little speech. Furious with Eliot, relieved they hadn’t died, and just at the end of every rope, he sat there on his knees and willed Eliot to follow his directions. 

Eliot gaped, then grabbed his stomach, not able to stop the loud almost painful laugh from exploding out of him. “Fuck”, he gasped. “Anything you want.” He said far more seriously than he had intended, but speaking the whole truth. Then he jerked his shirt over his head and grabbed Quentin eagerly pressing their mouths together. Eliot couldn’t believe he’d gone so long without the stubborn man currently clinging to him.

“No more decisions, you get to make none.” Quentin groaned as he put some space between them so he could breathe. Pulling at his pajama bottoms, he easily slid himself out of them. “Why do you still have your pants on.” He whined as he full on glared at Eliot. With a smirk Eliot waved his hand and ripped his pants off. Q rolled his eyes, not even remotely impressed, and they came back together bodies sliding against one another in easy familiarity.

Eliot pulled Quentin in hard, suddenly desperate for every inch of skin on skin contact he could get. Everything about them together was as natural as breathing, and he couldn’t wait to feel the consuming fire of having Quentin come apart with him. Eliot chuckled when Quentin opened his mouth to nag him some more, but Eliot shifted and their cocks rubbed against one another, and Quentin lost his breath. Quentin glared down at him, but Eliot just grinned and Quentin’s face fell into a soft smile. 

Eliot shifted and rolled Quentin over sliding his long body on top of Quentin, sighing in pleasure at the heat from both of them. He propped his arms up right by Quentin’s head so he could stare at the love of his life.

“Hey,” Eliot whispered staring into Quentin’s eyes.

“Hey back.” Quentin also whispered, loving the feel of Eliot caging him in, desperately clinging to the feeling that he and Eliot were the only two people in the whole world.

“I fucking missed you.” Eliot cupped Quentin’s cheeks and kissed him softly.

**

Eliot had no idea how much time had passed, but the soft light of morning was illuminating the both of them. Quentin had his head on Eliot's chest, they were both avoiding the day. 

"So Simon needs a guardian, his sister is going to need a lot of help." Quentin stated quietly. Eliot hmm'd in acknowledgement. "I was thinking maybe we could help get them settled."

Eliot didn't roll his eyes as was his usual response to Quentin's hesitant ridiculousness, he  just smiled, rubbed his chin on Quentin's head, and kissed his forehead, "Of course darling. I expected nothing less really." Two wizards raising puritan children and bonded to the god of life and death was the worst kind of joke, but he supposed they'd overcome far more in their convoluted lives. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. I reblog things [tumblr](https://unresolvednothing.tumblr.com/)


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